26 October 2015 11:15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hawkist, the online marketplace for electronics, has released its iOS app into an open beta this October. The company, which touts itself as a more cost effective solution for selling video games than the high street, has so far received a warm reception from gamers who were previously buying or trading in at CEX and GAME.

Customers are reportedly seeing an average cost savings of 23% when buying on the marketplace compared to the high street. With Christmas looming around the corner, this could be a great way to pick up top gaming titles for less.

A loyal customer, Jay Spruce of Norwich, talks about his experience with the app: "I thought it was brilliant, very quick. It was a time saver for sure. Plus, I got a brand new game for my XBOX One after selling three old games from my [XBOX] 360. This is better than what I would have gotten from GAME for sure."

Hawkist was founded in September 2015 by serial entrepreneur and marketing veteran Jonathan Erwin. Mr Erwin, now on his fifth start-up in 6 years, says he founded Hawkist to tackle what he calls the “fair value problem” with pre-owned electronics such as mobile phones, computers, laptops, consoles and other gaming related accessories.

Jonathan explains the competitive edge to Hawkist, “Our app is designed to compete with auction sites and classified listings. Not only are we cheaper than both, our users can get a fair valuation because negotiations take place directly in the app. Negotiations create flexibility around transactions. This is the exact opposite of what happens if you were buying from a high street chain. They’d have already set the prices for maximum profit.”

Although Hawkist is not the only service for reselling electronics, its niche focus on gamers and the electronics they use makes it unique in the app market. When asked what makes Hawkist a better option than trusted e-commerce giant eBay, Mr Erwin points to the cost of selling.

“It’s not very clear what eBay is going to charge you for selling an item in an auction. And if you purchase any add-ons when creating the auction this will eat into the returns you get. Hawkist’s pricing is transparent and we show you how much money you’ll get before you create a listing.

We also make it easy for users to find items they really want with intuitive tagging and filtering. Users can create wishlists from personalised product feeds built off these features.”

Now that Hawkist has released its iOS app, the intention is to work with its fledgling community to streamline the listing creation process and build the library of items available on the marketplace for purchase.